


In Which Killing Artorius is Only the Second Biggest Challenge of Velvet's Young Life

by inabsurd



Category: Tales of Berseria
Genre: Crack Treated Seriously, Gen, Minor Violence, Sledding, battle royal style, betrayal far worse than what happens in game, or as my family calls it - prison rules
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-18
Updated: 2020-02-18
Packaged: 2021-02-27 05:15:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 932
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22431703
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/inabsurd/pseuds/inabsurd
Summary: Berseria party bonding activity. RIP to everyone.
Comments: 1
Kudos: 9





	In Which Killing Artorius is Only the Second Biggest Challenge of Velvet's Young Life

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this for an advent prompt and I've been hoarding it ever since but Alberta got snow AGAIN so I'm feeling like now's the time to post

Up until this point in her life, Velvet’s faced the death of her brother and village, the betrayal of the only family she had left, imprisonment, isolation, and more battles than she can count, but today, she goes against her greatest enemy yet.

“Are you sure we’re ready for this?” Eleanor asks. Her face is pinched in apprehension, but she remains determined.

_ Good,  _ Velvet thinks,  _ There’s no point to this if everyone isn’t prepared to go all out. _

“Loosen up, El,” Rokurou answers, tightening his grip on his weapon of choice. He’s antsy as he waits for Velvet’s signal, struggling to hold his position despite every impulse as a war daemon that must be screaming for blood, “This is gonna be fun.”

“Well, fun for  _ me _ ,” Eizen counters, competitive streak taking over. He shoots the daemon a smug grin as he claims a spot next to him, “I’m going to win, after all.”

Velvet rolls her eyes, “Alright, that’s enough,” she says, determined to shut down that particular argument before it can kick-off. There’s no need for a repeat of the fishing incident, “You’re both forgetting the real threat here; me.”

Without further warning, the therion runs headlong towards the icy slope before her. Her companions are left in her dust, to which she hears several outraged cries. Velvet, emboldened by their response, doesn’t hesitate to lead forward onto her sled the moment it tips over the hillside and begins its descent. Powder sprays up into her face, but the cold’s bite leaves her untouched.

Unable to see, however, leaves her blind to Magilou’s move. With a sinister laugh, the witch overtakes Velvet in a matter of seconds, digging her feet into the snow as she rushes past to kick more snow into the daemon’s vision. Velvet swipes blindly in the woman’s direction but misses her and her infernal crazy carpet entirely, instead gathering up a fistful of snow.

Velvet snarls in frustration and leans further into her sled in hopes of picking up speed. To her left, she notices a shoving match between Rokurou and Eizen, the latter having spun his snowboard completely backwards so he’s face-to-face with the daemon behind him. Awkward as snowboarding backwards looks, Velvet can’t help but think that at least he can see Rokurou’s ski pole swinging straight for his face.

Phi’s laughter catches her attention next, followed by a gasp and a shriek from Eleanor. The therion chances a glance behind her, only to see the exorcist airborne and flying straight towards her. Quick thinking is the only thing that saves Velvet from a face full of Eleanor’s sled of choice; a hard-plastic saucer with no steering mechanisms whatsoever. 

They’d all thought choosing that sled was a mistake.

But they’d also all thought it’d be too funny to actually warn her and risk losing their entertainment, so they hadn’t.

Side-by-side with the exorcist now, Velvet can’t help but laugh at the look of horror on her face, “Ready to give in?” she teases.

“Not to you!” is Eleanor’s almost-cocky reply. It’d be more believable if she could loosen her death grip from the sides of the disk.

Velvet smirks, sticks a leg out, and kicks at Eleanor’s sled, tipping the side and tossing the praetor to the snow with a strangled cry. The daemon looks back to watch the carnage and can’t hold back the laugh as she and her disk slow to a stop, only for Phi to bump the disk out of Eleanor’s grasp as his tube slides passed her.

The therion turns her attention forward once more, where she is steadily gaining on Magilou. Jerking her sled to the side, Velvet aims herself straight towards the witch.

She never gets to exact her revenge, however, as not a moment later, Eizen catches up to Magilou himself. The malak holds Rokurou’s ski poles in his hand--having seemingly wrestled them away from their owner--and, without a moment’s hesitation, spears one of the poles into the witch’s crazy carpet.

The damage is instant. Magilou is forcefully torn from the carpet and rolls on without it for a good ten seconds from the momentum before a tree finally breaks her falls when she skids headlong into it.

With Magilou, Eleanor, and Rokurou out of the picture, it’s just Velvet and Eizen left fighting for first place. With the finish line looming in the distance, she knows she’ll have to act quickly.

Eizen seems to be thinking the same thing because the second she gets close to him, he starts swinging his remaining pole at her. He doesn’t hold back in the slightest and instead aims straight for Velvet’s head. She dodges the first few swipes before growing tired of the antics. As the pole swings for her again, she raises a hand and catches it on the downstroke. She gives Eizen just long enough to recognize his mistake, and then tugs. Hard.

The malak loses balance instantly and faceplants directly into the snow, unable to move thanks to the way his feet are strapped into the board.

Velvet can taste her victory as she races the last few metres to the finish line when a sharp pain radiates from the back of her head. That one hit is all it takes to fling her from her sled. Phi skitters past her on his tube and right past the finish line, a battlefield of fallen warriors in his wake.

She gazes at the boy, wide-eyed at the betrayal.

“So what do I win?” he asks innocently.

Velvet clutches her head and tries not to grin.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!


End file.
